Gary Wright - The Dreamweaver

Just about everyone's heard "Dream Weaver" - I suppose Wayne's World can take credit for that (although it is a different version, he did like to re-record this song). Still when I found this album I was pretty stoked as I happen to like that song, but I really like "Love is Alive" and I'll be honest I'd forgotten about that one until I dropped the needle, then it was "Holy mackerel. I love this song."

While my dollar bin copy didn't have an insert, there were decent credits on the back cover, and it was cool to see names like David Foster, drummers Andy Newmark and Jim Keltner and even a guitar cameo by Ronnie Montrose on "Power of Love" - it's the only guitar on the album and it comes at the close of the first side. After setting the tone with the various keyboard and special effects on the first four songs I actually didn't even notice the guitar the first time through - dang, even on the second pass it was there but just part of what drove the song. I guess it served the song, but seems like a waste of a marquee name.

Gary makes a point of mentioning on the back cover that "this is an album of keyboard music. With the exception of drums and vocals all the music heard was produced by keyboard instruments. Which is pretty cool, and I'm glad that was made in 1975 because a few years later no doubt he'd have used drum machines, and removed one of the elements that make this so enjoyable. The interplay and tension between organic and synthetic. It also doesn't hurt that Gary has a great voice.

The second side opens with "Dream Weaver" it's been a while since I've actually sat and listened to this. I'd actually kind of forgotten how cool this song is. I do like the moog bass especially when combined with the acoustic drums the rhythm section it underpins everything. It's not an understatement to say this reverberated through future popular music and even progressive rock. Heck SAGA would use moog bass, and still does. The spacey ending was no doubt heard by John Hall from Prism and no doubt influenced "Spaceship Superstar." Makes me wonder if Chris de Burgh heard this before writing "A Spaceman Came Travelling" - considering both were from 1975 but his was later in the same year, it would make for an interesting coincidence, but is unikely.

"Much Higher" takes the delayed keyboard riff from "Love is Alive" slows it down and marries it to a mid temp rock groove. It's a decent call back to the opening track and fits the tone of the album and is enjoyable in the context of the album, but not something that perks my ears up. The album closes out with a pretty forgettable song "Feel for Me" that just sort of played in the background.

While not an album of killer songs, two of the nine are so good they lift the entire album. The worst I can say is the other songs are decent but not memorable, and at least they didn't suck. That would have tanked the album for me - killer songs or not.

Garfield - Strange Streets

I'd seen this before in the bin, but kept flipping through the stacks. I'd see it a few more times, each time stopping to look at it a little more. There was something kind of cool about the cover where the stylized Celtic knot had the dotted yellow line - it was a strange street for sure. I pulled the record out of the jacket and I was struck by the centre image. There was the familiar Mercury label, the same one I'd seen a thousand times on BTOs Head On album. Well, I'd bought things based on odd associations before - like when I had to buy anything that Solid Rock Records released (this was generally a good thing) who knows maybe this was a hidden gem. There weren't any real scratches or rash, just a lot of dirt and dust - it seemed to clean up okay, but we'll see how it goes. The album opens with the title track, and this wasn't straight ahead pop, or rock. It was leaning to the progressive, but with a pop bent. Oddly enough the vocals reminded me of Mi...

Hoodoo Gurus - Mars Needs Guitars!

The first time I got this album it was a gift from my old roommate Otto. For a goofy little nebbish he would occasionally surprise me with some left of field musical treasures. Although, I still think he was reaching a little when he brought home the new "Led Zeppelin" album by Kingdom Come and forced me to listen to "Get it On" over and over again. I'd not listened to Mars Needs Guitars in a long, long, long time. The first thing that I jumped out at me was how David Faulkner's vocals reminded me of his fellow countryman Peter Garrett from Midnight Oil. I think the reason this never occurred to me was at the time I didn't have any Midnight Oil until Diesel and Dust in 1987. I'm not saying it was all the time, but there were a couple of songs where it stood out. Not a bad thing, just a thing. Even at the time this felt slightly out of step with what was going on in 1985. It seemed like everyone was using drum machines and synthesizers and having t...

Saturday Night Fever - The Original Movie Soundtrack

It was going to happen sooner or later. Nostalgia is a cruel Mistress...she can dull the sharpest edges and over time can even soften the hardest of opinions. I found this in the dollar bin, and frankly at a dollar I was worried about what this would cost me. Not only from a monetary perspective, but my time, and more important my credibility. Fourteen year old me was screaming "Don't you dare. DON'T DO IT! Put it down. Walk away!" Then there was grey bearded me holding it and looking at it, thinking, "How bad could it be? I actually kind of like "Staying Alive" and me buying this record won't bring disco back, and no one will have to know I bought this." I pulled the album out of the bin, and carefully took out the records. They'd seen better days, and there were a couple of decent scratches that would no doubt make their presence known later. The jacket was in decent condition, and both of the albums had the original sleeves. I dusted the...

Old Enough to Forget

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